Safety astragal for dumbwaiter doors



Aug. 23, 196 w. c. HEISLER SAFETY ASTRAGAL FOR DUMBWAITER DOORS Filed Dec. 12, 195'? INVENTO ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,949,648 SAFETY ASTRAGAL FOR DUMBWAITER DOORS William C. Heisler, Clifton Heights, Pa., assignor to Guilbert, Incorporated, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Dec. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 702,411 6 Claims. (Cl. 20-19) This invention relates to safety astragals and more particularly to such astragals for use on bi-parting and other types of vertically sliding dumbwaiter doors and the like.

Dumbwaiter doors of the bi-parting vertical sliding type have heretofore been employed at the various floors of the shaftway. It has heretofore been proposed to provide safety astragals of rubber or other crushable materials but difficulties have been encountered in bolding the doors in a fixed closed position,particula'rly when a controlled force of the order of fifteen pounds is used to close the doors and maintain the same in closed position.

It is the principal object of the present invention to provide a safety astragal fo'r bi-parting and other vertically sliding doors for dumbwaiters and the like which will be eifective in avoiding injury to the fingers of the user and which will, at the same time provide an improved fire seal. I

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety astragal of the character aforesaid which is simple in construction, readily attachable to doors of this type, and is self-positioning.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety astragal having a sliding component of a character to permit of adequate clearance for the fingers of the user if required and which additionally has a lower sealing co'mponent thereon.

Other objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the description and claims.

The nature and characteristic features of the invention will be more readily understood from the following description, taken in ing drawings forming part thereof, inwhich: I

Figure 1 is a fragmentary rear elevational view of one end portion of bi-parting doors having the astragal of the present invention mounted thereo'n;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional v on the line 22 of Fig. 1; i

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the astragal of the present invention applied to a different door construction; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view taken approximately on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

It should, of course, be understood that the description and drawings herein are illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changes can be made in the structure disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Like numerals refer to like eral views.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, upper and lower vertically slidable dumbwaiter shaftway doors are shown at 10 and 11. The doors 10 and 11 are of well known type and can be operated to opened and closed positions in any desired manner, manually or automatically.

The upper door 10 has a lower marginal edge strip 12 of sheet metal secured thereto in any desired manner parts throughout the sevconnection with the accompanyew taken approximately 0 slightly,

extending from one side edge to the other and which preferably includes a bottom horizontal plate 13, an ntegral outer vertically extending flange 14 and an mtegral inner vertically extending flange 15.

The lower door 11 preferably has a top marginal edge strip 16 of sheet metal secured thereto in any desired manner, extending from one side edge to the other side edge of the door 11 and which preferably includes a top horizontal plate 17.

A U-shaped astragal 20 is provided extending at least along the part of the door 10 which is exposed on the exterior of the shaftway. The astragal 20 consists of a flat horizontal bottom section 21, an integral outer vertically extending flange 22 and an integral inner verti cally extending flange 23.

The astragal 20 has mounted, on the exterior of the bottom section 21, a thin flexible and resilient strip 24 preferably consisting of a lamina 25 of woven asbestos fabric and a lamina 26 of rubber, preferably neoprene, with a woven wire fabric 27 incorporated therein.

The bottom section 21, contiguous to each of the ends thereof has a pin 30 secured thereto in any desired manner, such as by riveting, which extends upwardly through an aligned opening 31 in the plate 13. Mounted on the pins 30, above the plate 13, a bulfer collar 32, of resilient material such as rubber, natural or synthetic, and a washer 33 are provided which serve as an abutment for a movement limiting pin 34, such as a cotter pin, to limit the downward movement of the astragal 20 but to permit a limited upward movement thereof.

If desired, a bumper stop 35 can be mounted by a screw 36 in the vertical door guides 37 for engagement by a door carried guiding plate 38 to regulate the spacing of the doors 10 and 11 in closed position.

If desired, also, one of the doors such as the lower door 11 can be provided along at least one of its vertical end edges with a retainer projection 39 with which a resilient arm 40, carried on the corresponding vertical end edges of the upper door 10, engages in the closed position of the doors 10 and 11 for normally releasably holding the doors .10 and 11 in closed position but permitting the separation thereof upo'n the application of suflicient force to release the arm 40 from engagement with the projection 39.

'Referringrnow more particularly to Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings, in the construction there shown, a single vertically movable door 10a is provided and a fixed ledge .45 "is. fixedly secured to the framing or other part of the shaftway. The ledge 45 has an upper horizontal inwardly extending face 46 extending the width of the door 10a.

The astragal 20, mounted on the door 10a is in other respects ,substantially, the same as heretofore described, and is located on the door 10a above the ledge 45.

The mode of operation will now be pointed out.

With the doors 10 and 11 in closed position, or with the door 10a in closed position, as determined by the bumper stop 35, the astragal 20 will be positioned by the engagement of the strip 24 with the top horizontal face of the plate 17 or with the face 46 of the ledge 45. If now the doors 10 and 11 are separated vertically or the door 10a is moved vertically with respect to the ledge 45 the astragal 20 will slide downwardly a short distance with respect to the door 10 or 10a until the limiting pins 34 engage the washer 33.

Upon the closing of the doors 10 and 11 or the door 10a, to a position determined by the bumper stop 35 the strip 24 will engage the plate 17 or the top horizontal face 46 of the ledge 45 and, dependent upon the force applied for closing, the strip 214 will be compressed and of the order of one thirty-second of an inch to seal the opening between the doors 10 and 11 or between the door 10a and the face 46. The resilient arm 40 will move into engagement with the retainer projection 39 and resiliently hold the doors and 11 or the door 10a in closed position, and with the strip 24 serving as a fire stop or seal. r

If, during the closing of the doors 10 and 11-or of the door 100, the fingers of a person should be in a position therebetween, so that the closing force would tend to crush or squeeze the fingers, the astragal '20, by reason of its vertical sliding mounting will avoid any crushing or painful squeezing action. The resiliency of the strip 24 will further aid in avoiding any personal injury.

I claim:

1. Closure apparatus for shaftway doors comprising two members one of which is vertically movable with respect to the other to provide a shaftway access o'pen ing and at least one of which is a door, a limit positioning device at a side margin of at least one of said members for determining the closed position of said members and the space therebetween in closed position, said door having a lower horizontal portion extending from one end margin to the other end margin thereof with vertical outer side faces extending upwardly therefrom, a closure for closing the space between said members in closed position having a lower wall section disposed in parallel relation to said horizontal portion and extending therealong and vertical side flange portions extending upwardly along said side faces, spaced connecting pins interposed between said lower wall section and said lower horizontal portion mounting said closure in vertically slidable relation to said door, said connecting pins having stop portions in engagement therewith for limiting the downward movement of said closure, a centrally disposed fiat strip of flexible fire resistant material mounted on the lower face of said lower wall section in face to face engagement therewith and extending therealong from one end to the other end of said lower face for engagement with the other of said first mentioned members.

2. Closure apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which a resilient releasable holding device is provided connected to said members at side marginal portions thereof for holding said members in closed position.

3. Closure apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which both of said first mentioned members are doors.

4. Closure apparatus as defined in claim 1 in which the other of said first mentioned members is a fixedly mounted ledge.

5. Closure apparatus for shaftway dodrs comprising two members one of which is vertically movable with respect to the other to provide a shaftway access openmg and at least one of which is a door, a limit positioning device at a side margin of at least one of said members for determining the closed position of said members and the space therebetween in closed position, said doo'r having a lower horizontal plate portion extending from one end margin to the other end margin thereof with vertical outer side faces extending upwardly therefrom, a vertically slidable closure for closing the space below said door in the closed position of said door, said closure having a lower horizontal wall section disposed in parallel relation to said plate portion and extending therealong and vertical side'flange portions extending upwardly along said side faces, spaced vertical pins extending upwardly fromsaid wall section and through openings in said plate portion, abutments carried by said pins for limiting the downward movement of said closure, and a centrally dispo'sed flat strip of flexible fire resistant material mounted on the lower face of said lower wall section in face to face engagement therewith and extending therealong from one end to the other end of said lower face for engagement with the other of said first mentioned members.

6. Closure apparatus for shaftway doors comprising two members one of which is vertically movable with respect to the other to provide a shaftway access opening and at least one of which is a door, a limit positioriing device at a side margin of at least one of said members for determining the closed position of said members and the space therebetween in closed position, said door having a lower horizontal plate portion extending from one end margin to the other end margin thereof with vertical outer side faces extending upwardly therefrom, a vertically slidable closure member for closing the space between said members in closed position having a lower horizontal wall section disposed in parallel relation to said plate portion and extending therealong and vertical side flange portions extending upwardly along said side faces, spaced vertical connecting pins extending upwardly from said wall section and through openings in said plate portion, buffer members on said pins above said plate portion, transversely extending abutments carried by said pins for engagement with said buifer members and limiting the downward movement of said closure member, and a centrally disposed flat strip of'flexible fire resistant material mounted on the lower face of said lower wall section in face to face engagement therewith and extending therealong from one end to the other end of said lower face for engagement with the other of said first mentioned members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,009,879 Ackerman Nov. 28, 1911 1,206,607 Speck Nov. 28, 1916 2,475,015 Croker et a1 July 5, 1949 2,860,386 Doeg et al. Nov. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 276,684 Great Britain Mar. 8, 1928,

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